Hey friends! Welcome!
Today I'm sharing a box that I made for my daughter to store her 'stuff'. When your daughter asks you to make her a box for 'stuff'... you make one LOL. This large mache box is made by DCC, but you can find similar ones in any craft store.

Here are the basic steps to making this box. I didn't take step-by-step photos, but you can get the idea by looking at the finished project. It's simple!

To begin, I painted a thin, uneven coat of white gesso to the outside surface of the box. This helps give the box a distressed look and the ink colors stay true to color because the box is naturally a kraft brown. Once the gesso dried I adhered a few strips of tissue tape around the edge of the lid. Using Ceramic Stucco by Liquitex, my favorite medium for adding texture, I created a harlequin pattern in random areas with the help of a stencil by the Crafters Workshop.

Next comes the chipboard! For the bottom border of the box I used two packs of the French Flourish Border (DA0275) by the Dusty Attic. The chipboard words used for this project all come in one pack - DA1170 Live Beautifully and can be purchased HERE. Because the box is round, here's a tip on how to adhere the chipboard to the sides. Lay each piece flat and spritz a very light mist of water onto each chippie. Allow the water to soak in a few seconds. This will soften the chipboard enough for you to conform it to the curves of the box. Do not let the bottom of the chipboard get wet or it may be difficult for the glue to adhere. After the glue dries, brush a thin, dry layer of gesso to each chipboard piece the same way we did to the surface of the box. The goal is to have almost no product on your brush otherwise it will seep into the gaps of the chipboard designs.

Once the Ceramic Stucco is nearly dry, it's time to ink it up! Choose your favorite spray inks and go crazy! Well, artistically crazy LOL. There's really no method that I use for this. I randomly spray the colors in different areas to my liking.

Finally, once the ink was completely dry, I used the Reflections stamp by Stampers Anonymous and lightly stamped the pattern all around.

Below are a few more close-ups of the side of the box.

The lid was really fun to make! Most of the flowers were hand-made with the exception of the dark purple and hot pink mulberry flowers and the white flowers by Prima.

The flowers that have a script pattern on them were made by hand. They were cut from Donna Salazar's Bitty Blossoms and Rose Creations dies by Spellbinders. Below is a tip on how I added the script to my flowers.

I generally like to use watercolor paper to make my flowers when I don't have any patterned paper that matches my color theme. To add an interesting touch, I adhered strips of patterned tissue tape to the watercolor paper like this.

Then spray your favorite ink colors to the paper. Spritzing water on top of the ink will give it a nice gradient effect.

Let it dry and then cut your flower layers!

I love how these turned out!

My daughter LOVES her box and keeps asking me to make her another one. :o)

You can purchase Dusty Attic chipboard HERE, and if the design you are looking for happens to be out of stock, you can place a special order HERE.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook where I post giveaways that almost always include Dusty Attic chipboard!

Hey there... welcome! The layout I am sharing with you today was made for an event in Spain called ScrapLabMadrid. I was asked to create a layout that focused mainly on the paper and to also embellish using paper. This is what I came up with!

For this layout I used papers from various (older) collections by 7 Dots Studios. I love mixing paper collections because I feel that there are more creative possibilities. I generally choose a color theme first and then search for coordinating papers based on that. In this case I went with cool-toned neutrals and grays with a hint of peach and pops of purple.

The simplest way to add interest to any layout using paper is to add layers! I tore up a few sheets, distressed the edges and adhered the layers to the top and bottom of my page. Along the outer border, I tucked punched paper beneath the layers.

The random stitching helps to add texture to the layout, and the purple ink splatters help to bring my color scheme together.

Here you can get a glimpse of the bottom layers as well as the gorgeous chipboard scrolls I added. The Dusty Attic scrolls (DA1542 Industrial Scrolls) were inked with several different colors and embossed using powder by Lindy's Stamp Gang. I love how they turned out!

All of the flowers on this layout were made by hand using paper that was cut with Bitty Blossoms and Rose Creations dies by Donna Salazar. These are my all-time favorite dies for flower making.

An easy way to create a photo mat for your photo is to stack layers of leftover paper and punched paper (also made from scraps). A quick tip for adding depth to the photo mat is to crumple up the layers before stacking them.
And finally, to balance the design out, I added a Cog Cluster (DA1393) beneath the photo.

This was a simple, yet fun project and I hope you like it. You can purchase Dusty Attic chipboard HERE, and if the design you are looking for happens to be out of stock, you can place a special order HERE.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook where I post giveaways that almost always include Dusty Attic chipboard!

The project I am sharing with you today was inspired by a quote that I found online:

"She is proof that you can walk through hell and still be an angel."

Before I get into my project details I would like to share a quick background as to how this piece came about and why it is significant to me.

These past two years have been extremely challenging for me. My life has changed drastically in terms of friends, family, health and even my home. You could say I have been 'to hell and back', and it's not something I would wish upon anyone. Despite the obstacles I have had to face, I have not allowed the pain and struggle to change the person that I am. Although at times, I admit, I felt as though I would fail, I did not allow the darkness to overcome the goodness that I have within. I have always been kind and compassionate, and I have always put others before myself. I am fiercely loyal and will be the first person by your side when needed. This is who I am, and this is who I will always be. As dramatic as I may sound at the moment LOL, I am sure there are a few of you that can relate to my struggle. ;o)

Anyway, as soon as I read that quote, I had a vision of how I wanted to portray it on a canvas. This is what I came up with. I hope you like it. :o)

For this project I used an 11"x14" stretch linen canvas that I purchased from Michaels. I was immediately drawn to the linen surface when I saw it and I LOVE that it is not white. To add texture to my canvas I used Ceramic Stucco by Liquitex and the Mini Bricks stencil by The Crafter's Workshop to create the brick background. Once the medium was dry, I applied several different Distress Inks to achieve the desired color.

The upper right portion of this canvas represents the 'light' within the angel... the goodness. All of the flowers were made by hand using paper from various collections by Pion Design. The smaller flowers were cut from Bitty Blossoms dies and the larger flowers were cut using Rose Creations dies, both by Donna Salazar.

The chipboard flourishes, DA0848 Floral Corners and DA0628 Corner Flourish #1, were inked with Tawny Turquoise by Lindy's Stamp Gang. The color changes from turquoise to brown, depending on the angle at which you look at the flourishes.

Behind the flowers is a layer of Girlie Grunge Gauze by Donna Salazar. I love the texture of this material and the way it absorbs color.

This gorgeous tree by The Dusty Attic, DA0091 Bare Tree #2, was first inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and then parts of the surface were spritzed with Dark Chocolate Truffle by LSG. This resulted in different tones (light and dark) of brown and helped to give the tree a bit of dimension. To create an old, distressed look, I embossed random areas using Distress Embossing Powder by Ranger. Love the rough texture that this gave the tree. The Mini Birds were inked with black ink, and I swiped the thinnest layer of white paint across the surface using my finger so that the birds didn't appear so 'flat'.

Each piece was inked with a variety of brown and black ink, and the flourishes were sprayed with a coppery red ink to mimic the color of flames.

The reason I added a few flowers from the corner of 'light' is because I wanted to show that the 'angel' leaves behind traces of her goodness despite her presence in the 'darkness'.

The 'angel' (DA0657 Divine Divas) was sprayed with the same ink used in the upper right corner, Tawny Turquoise. Her skirt is made from the Girlie Grunge Gauze I used in the background as well as bits of lace and ribbon scraps.

The wings were dampened with water and split apart to create more of a 3D effect. They were also embossed with two different embossing powders by Lindy's Stamp Gang - Angel Wings Jade and Magic Moon Pearls.

The chipboard cogs (DA0001 Cogs #1) represent the turmoil felt within which is why I used both the turquoise and coppery red colors to color them.

I hope you like how this piece turned out. It was a pleasure to work on. All of the chipboard designs used for this canvas can be purchased HERE. If any are out of stock you can special-order them HERE.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Hope to see you again next time!